Circular-knitting machine.



A. N. AMES.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MABHIZ, 1906.

Patented June 21, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHBBT l.

A. N. AMES.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

'APPLIGATION FILED MAR.1Z,1906.

962,292. Patented June 21,1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. N. AMES.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR.12, 1906.

962,292. Patented June21, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. N. AMES.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.12,1906.

962,292. Patented June 21, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

' was ARTHUR N. AMES, OF FRANKLIN FALLS, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 12, 1906. Serial No. 305,707.

Patented June-21, 1910.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR N. AMEs, a citizen of the United States,residing in Franklin Falls, in the county of Merrimack and State of NewHampshire, have invented an Improvement in Circular-Knitting Machines,of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

The present invention relates to a circular knitting machine, and isembodied in a machine of that type known as the full automatic, in whichthe machine, once started, will knit a stocking complete; the transferfrom the circular knitting for the leg and foot to the reciprocatingknitting for the heel and toe, and vice versa, being accomplished byautomatic pattern mechanism; and the machine being stopped automaticallywhen the stocking has been completed.

The invention is mainly embodied in a novel'pattern mechanism tocooperate with a thread shifting device for striping around the leg andfoot, the object being to utilize a pattern chain comparatively short inlength, the said chain being controlled by a main pattern mechanismwhich stops the movement of the chain ekcept when it is in activeoperation for controlling narrow stripes, so that it is unnecessary touse a very long chain in case there are groups of narrow stripes somedistance apart in the pattern for a long stocking.

Figure l is a front elevation of a suflicient portion of a knittingmachine to include the features which embody the invention; Fig. 2 is atop plan view partly in section; Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly insection, looking toward the right hand side of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is adetail on a larger scale showing the pattern chain and its cooperatingparts;- Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line :0 of Fig.

4; and Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on line w of Fig. 4..

The driving mechanism of the machine is substantially like that employedin machines of this type as heretofore constructed, as

- shown, for example, in Letters Patent No.

745,449, to Mayo, Dec. 1, 1903, the main shaft A, Fig. 1, having sleevedthereon a driving pulley A and a loose pulley A the driving pulleyhaving connected therewith a driving gear A which meshes with a largegear A which is driven continually when oscillating movement iscontrolled in the usual wa by the belt is on the pulley A The said largegear A is connected by means of a pit-man A with a gear segment A upon arock-' shaft A, which, through the action of said pitman A, isoscillated continuously durin the operation of the machine. The saidgear segment is in mesh with a gear A sleeved on the shaft A, and freeto oscillate thereon, the said gear A therefore, being oscillated'solong as the machine is in operation.

Inte'rposed between the driving gear A and the oscillated gear A is aclutch member B, which is shown as a sleeve splined on the shaft A so asto be connected therewith,'so far as relates to rotating or oscillatiiigmotion, the said clutch member B having projections B and B which areadapted to engage respectively with shoulders in the gears A? and A.When, therefore, the clutch member B is in engagement with the gear A,as shown, the shaft A will be rotated, while if the clutch member B isshifted to the other position so that the said clutch member isconnected with the gear A the shaft will be oscillated. The said shaft Ais further provided with a gear A, which is in mesh with a gear C on astub shaft C which is also provided-with a bevel gear ortion Cintermeshing with a bevel gear 4 on a port-ion of the cam cylinder C sothat the said cam cylinder is rotated or oscillated in accordance withthe operation of the shaft A, the rotary movement of the cylinderperforming the circular knitting operation, while the oscillatingmovement thereof performs the reciprocating knitting operation by whichthe heel and toe of the stocking are formed, sub- ,stantially as in thepatent to Mayo above cited.

The starting and stopping of the machine, and the shifting from thecircular to the are controlled by a pattern-wheel D, the specificconstruction and operation of which need not be herein described, sincethey do not enter into the novel features of the resent invention. Thesaid pattern wheel the fast and loose gears D and D igs. 2 and 3) whichhave mutilated portions and which are rotated through the agency of asmall gear D operated from the oscillated shaft A by a pawl. D andratchet D. The conof the cam cylinder struction is substantially likethat shown in Letters Patent No. 474,671, W. H. and G. D.

struction and operation of which, as herein shown, are already known tothe art. Briefly, these thread guides may be described as consisting ofguide members E, (Figs. 2 and 3) which are carried by the rotating cam chnder C each guide member being pivota 1% supported at E and having aproection 3 which is arranged to be acted on y an upright projectionfrom a slide E to tip the guide into or out'of the path of the needles.The slides E areon different levels, as best shown in Fig. 1, andproject forward into the path of a cam or cams E In the constructionshown there are two. cams E and these cams are vertically movable inaccordance with the operation of the special pattern mechanism underconsideration so as to engage one or the other of the slides E, ascontrolled by the pattern, so as to shift the thread guides withrelation to the needles. The two slides E are provided with across-connection. E, herein shown (Fig. 2) as an arm pivoted betweenthem and connected at opposite sides with the slides res ectively, sothat the movement of either sli e produces a corresponding movement ofthe other in the opposite direction. The purpose of using two cams ismerely to lessen the distance necessary to move the cam member. The camsE are shown as supported by means of guide pins E" (Figs. 1 and 3) oneof the sa1d pins being in engagement with a lever a (Fig. '1) pivoted ona portion of the frame and connected by means of a link a with acontrolling lever a pivoted at a, and directly operated by the patternchain a which is provided with a series of projections a properly spacedin accordance with the pattern des1red. Each time, therefore, assumingthat the chain a is traveling, one of the projec-- tions at comes underthe end of the lever a as shown in Fig; 4, the link a will be pulleddownward and will act through the lever a to raise the cam ortion andshift the thread guides. After t e projection a has passed stocking inone color between the stripes:

this being accomplished by causing the chain a to stop its travel duringthe knltting of a considerable portion of a stocking in one colorbetween stri ping of the chain ing contrlolle by a attern controllingdevice on some trav ing member of the machine, such as the mam patternshaft D".

As herein shown, the chain a is mounted on a sprocket wheel a andpreferably runs over an idle sprocket a. (Fig. 1) the sprocket wheel ahaving a ratchet a WhlCh IS 0 erated by a pawl a arranged to be contmurously reciprocated during the operation of the machine. The pawl a isivoted on an arm a (dotted lines, Fig. 4) aving a pivs, the startin andstopotal su port and a forked projection a engaged y a in 0. upon anelbow lever a",

one end of w ich is provided with a cam roll or engaged by a cam surfaceformed on the travel of the chain, however, the pawl a is under theinfluence of a secondary member a which is shown as a lever pivotallysupported at a and normally he (1 in the path of projections a'-' (Figs.3, 5 and 6) upon the pattern chain a, by means of a spring a. Thiscontrolling member a is provided with a supporting surface a whichengages a projection a from the pawl a and it has an inclined surface ain the path of the projections a, so that when in the travel of thepattern chain a one of the said projections comes in contact with theinclined surface a on the said supporting member a, it will lift thesaid supporting member and carry the awl a out of engagement with therate et teeth. The momentum of the chain, however, carries theprojection a past the su porting membeir a before the travel of t echainactuall' ceases, and it is, therefore, necessary to a ford a secondarysupport for the stop. This secondary support, moreover, maybe utilizedto control the starting of the chain, as will of the chain. Assuming,therefore, that the pattern calls for twoor more narrow stripes closetogether, the projections (1 upon the pattern chain are arranged to stopthe movebe described. The said secondary su port is shown as consistingof a spring atch b,

on the disk without producing any feed ment of the chain after theproper number of pattern projections a have passed under the lever a andthe solid knitting without stripes will then take place as long as isnecessary without further movement of the chain.

To set the chain 0, in operation again the latch 11 isnnder the controlof engaging projections carried by some part of the machine whichtravels during the entire knitting operation, the said projections beingherein shown as blocks b (Fi s. 2 and 3) which are secured in the desirepositions to one or both of the fast and loose gears D and D so as toact at the intervals desired in starting up the pattern chain.Theseblocks are preferably secured in holes D in the gears, so that theymay be readily adjusted as to position,-and are mounted on the adjacentfaces of the gears.

The blocks Z1 act'upon an arm b which is mounted on the rock shaft 6,and which projects between the gears D and D as best' shown in Fig. 2,so as to cooperate with the blocks 12 on either gear which is inoperation. The rock shaft 6 is connected with an arm b, which in turn isconnected by means of a link 6 with an arm or elbow 6 (Figs. 3 and 5)forming a art of the latch b, so that each time one of the projections bcomes in contact with the arm the latch b will be moved out ofengagement with the pawl supporting member a, permitting the same todrop and thus letting the pawl a come into engagement with the ratchetteeth a to start the feed movementof the chain. 7

Assuming, for example, that in a long stocking the pattern calls forthree narrow stripes followed by a considerable length of solid color,the pattern can be so arranged that one of the projections a will reachthe awl supporting member a after three 0 the pro ections a. on thepattern chain 0. have acted, thus stopping the pattern chain. The plainknitting will then continue to such a position as may be determined bythe posiparatively short pattern chain, which would otherwise beimpossible unless all the stripes are equi-distant from each other, andclose together, since if the fine stripes were widely separated acontinuously traveling chain would have to have the pattern -controllingprojections separated a distance equivalent to that between the sets ofnarrow st-rlpes.

Claims.

1. In a knitting machine, a plurality of thread-guides; a pattern chainfor shifting said thread-guides; a ratchet to produce a movement of saidpattern-chain; a pawl cooperating with said ratchet; a movable sup portfor said pawl to hold it out of the path of said ratchet; devicesconnected with the pattern-chain to move said support; an automaticretaining device for said support; a main pattern controlling mechanism;and means connected with said mechanism for tripping said retainingdevice.

2. In a knitting machine, a pluralitypf thread-guides; a pattern chainfor shifting said thread-guides; a ratchetto produce a movement of saidpattern-chain; a pawl cooperating with said ratchet; a movable supportfor said pawl to hold it out of the path of said ratchet; devicesconnected with the pattern chain to move said support; a spring-latch tohold said support; a lever connected with said spring latch to releaseit from said support; a separate continuously traveling member; and aseries of abutments carried by said member to operate at intervals. uponsaid lever.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

. ARTHUR N. AMES.

Witnesses:

FRANK PRoo'roR, G. B. CLEMENT.

